tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052308.post8086579205386719947..comments2024-01-24T06:50:01.683-06:00Comments on Samizdat Blog: 31 Letters, 13 Dreams, and the Communications RevolutionArchambeauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17273511539172747550noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052308.post-17381842640004131632013-01-27T22:37:41.366-06:002013-01-27T22:37:41.366-06:00Thanks! Now that I think of it, there's a boo...Thanks! Now that I think of it, there's a book to be written about the history of poetry as a history of communication regimes. There's been a bit of work done on the relation of poets over the generations to changing systems of book and journal publication (John Timberman Newcomb's got two great books on the topic -- "Would Poetry Disappear?" and "How Did Poetry Survive?") but I'm thinking of something broader, something on how the rise and decline of the postal system mattered, or the telephone (such a big thing for New York School poets of the 60s), and of course of the internet. I hope someone, somewhere, is doing that as a dissertation right now, though I kind of doubt it's happening. It's the kind of thing people in Communications departments would be good at if they knew about poetry, and that English department types would be good at if they took any interest in the history not just of the book, but of communications technology in general.Archambeauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17273511539172747550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052308.post-91043368760261743752013-01-27T19:34:28.681-06:002013-01-27T19:34:28.681-06:00Wonderful post/essay. The idea of an ‘in-between a...Wonderful post/essay. The idea of an ‘in-between age’ and its casualties (alienated and dispersed but also beneficiaries of a new educational order) makes sense to me. Of course, you had me at 'Hugo' because I'm a fan his poetry.JforJameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17178504373218996278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052308.post-75172554610133028932013-01-27T12:46:41.966-06:002013-01-27T12:46:41.966-06:00I take your point.
The letter/dream combination i...I take your point.<br /><br />The letter/dream combination is, I think, is a part of the confessional project -- in a way, the inclusion of the dreams amongst those letters is a confession (to readers of the book) of what he's withheld in his dealings with others via the letters.Archambeauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17273511539172747550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052308.post-62630910620865704302013-01-27T11:44:55.950-06:002013-01-27T11:44:55.950-06:00This is a very interesting book. I love the dialec...This is a very interesting book. I love the dialectic between the letters and the dreams. The letters arguably about presenting the quotidian--dear colleague, I traveled here, I saw this--without indulging in "poetic" language. It is a desire for sociability that makes the poet's persona very appealing. We're meant to overhear "friendly conversation," which is neither fully private nor public--semi-private, a hazy area. The dreams seem to suggest, Here is the really horrible/agonizing/weird stuff I'm excluding from the letters. So how confessional can letters or any private communication be? He seems to be including the dreams almost against his will, as if compelled to. I would look at, for instance, Bernadette Mayer, as someone who is all dream, even when she "poeticizes" quotidian experience, a side Hugo, at least in this volume, seems determined to keep at a reasonable distance. He wants to keep the dreams and the letters separate, is afraid almost, of their quiet merger. Yet it happens against his will, of course. The letters can get very dark too. In any event, this ability to present the everyday quotidian in memorable language that doesn't degenerate into overt experiments with lyricism is a rare ability. Anis Shivaninoreply@blogger.com